Aunt Sherry's Pink House and Other Summer Things
by pajamadrive
Summary: When Maria's mom sends her off to stay with her Aunt Sherry, Uncle Bill, and cousin Scotty for the summer, she is less than ecstatic... NOT A MARYSUE. SHE DOESN'T PLAY BASEBALL. SHE'S SHORT AND CYNICAL AND SHE MAKES BOYS CRY.
1. Chapter 1

When Mom told me she was sending me off to spend the summer with Aunt Sherry and Bill, I was so mad. I had plans for the summer! My friends and I were going to hang out at the beach and talk to cute boys and... Argh! She could have at least told me, like, BEFORE the week I had to leave. 

So, anyway, here I am, sitting in Bill's car. He's driving and Aunt Sherry's in the passenger seat. My cousin Scotty's sitting next to me. He's sitting as far away from me as possible. Man, set the kid's pants on fire ONCE... Wait a second, Aunt Sherry's saying something...

"Scotty was so excited when we told him you were coming to visit! I bet you two are going to have so much fun. Oh! And I'm sure Scotty would love to introduce you to all his friends!"

Okay, she's still rambling. I don't want to meet Scotty's stupid friends! The last time we saw eachother, at Christmas, all he could talk about was his stupid friends and the stupid sandlot and stupid baseball! And that story about the dog and the guy who lives next to the sandlot is SO lame. I miss my friends already. Lisa and Michelle are probably at the beach right now, while we're pulling up to this pink nightmare of a house. I can already tell this is going to be the worst summer of my whole life.

And, by the way, Mom, if you end up SNOOPING in my room one day and you read this, I KNOW YOU ONLY SENT ME AWAY SO YOU COULD SNEAK AROUND WITH MR. HUMPHREY! WHAT DO YOU THINK I AM, STUPID?

Okay, well, I guess I have to put you away now so I can lug all my stuff out of this piece of junk and unpack.

* * *

Oh my god! I'm sooo bored and it isn't even NOON!

I'm staying in the BASEMENT. What the hell? Who puts a guest in the flippin' BASEMENT! Ugh. It's damp and COLD. I'm freezing my flipping ass off!

Well, I don't want to go up and follow Scotty around like a puppy while he plays with his science junk. Bill's a nerd and Aunt Sherry's gone grocery shopping, so I might as well tell you about myself.

My name is Maria Christine Sullivan. I'm turning thirteen really soon and I'm kind of short. Well, okay, really short. Like... 4'8'' short. I'm bad at Math and I hate sports. Yeah, that's right, I HATE SPORTS. I've got brown hair down to my waist and green eyes. I'm not gorgeous and I'm not hideous, but I'm pretty okay-looking. I'm rather... scrawny. Kind of wiry? I guess. I've got long legs and small feet. And I'm mildly pale. I planned on working up a really good tan over the summer at the beach with my friends. But, nooo, Mom sends me off to BORINGTOWN, USA and all my plans are scrapped. I'm so bitter. I need a snack. I get cranky on an empty stomach.

* * *

Oookay. So, Scotty's friends are WEIRD. I went upstairs to retrieve a snack and I was walking towards the kitchen when there was a knock on the door. Bill yelled for someone to get it, and Scotty was in his room, so that left me. I opened the door to eight boys, standing there with baseball equipment and.. stuff, you know what? I don't know what all that stuff is called so THERE! Pfft, anyway. We kind of just all stood there and they were giving me funny looks. So, I said, "Hi." I know, I'm so clever. "Who the hell are you?" some fat kid with freckles and weird poofy-ish hair asked me. "Who the hell am _I_?" I asked, incredulous. So, the one that was cute pushed the fat kid out of the way and then asked me, "Is Scotty home?" "Oh, yeah. Hold on, I'll get him."

I flounced off to Scotty's room and knocked on his door. "Scotty, some kids are here lookin' for you." I heard him putting stuff away and he swung the door open, baseball glove (HA! I know what THAT is!) in hand. He said thanks and rushed off to the front door.

I closed his bedroom door for him and then followed him back to the front door. I stood outside on the steps while he and his friends walked off.

I eventually shut the door and went back inside for my snack. I ate it at the kitchen table and then lounged in the living room for a while, bored out of my skull. I had no idea how I was going to survive an entire summer of this crap.

Then, Aunt Sherry came home and I helped her bring in groceries from the car and put them away. She talked to Bill for a bit about something and I was bored again. That's why I was drawing pictures of myself at the beach with Lisa and Michelle and two VERY nice-lookin' boys in your margins, diary. Sorry.

Aunt Sherry came back into the kitchen and started getting things out for supper. I asked her if I could help and I cut some things for her and peeled potatoes. I accidentally cut my finger and then started stabbing the stupid potato with the knife I was using. Aunt Sherry told me to put the knife down, throw away the potato and wash my hands. She bandaged my poor finger up and then I sat down again.

I was in the living room, imagining myself hitchhiking back home and blackmailing my mother into sending me to Honolulu with Lisa and Michelle for the rest of summer vacation when Aunt Sherry came in and said, "Honey, could you get Scotty and tell him it's supper time?" "He's not here." "Oh, where is he?" "Umm.. some kids abducted him." "Oh, I see. Could you be a dear and go rescue my son?" "Um, yeah. Where did he go?" I was fully insulted, because she was totally sending me across a town I didn't know to fetch Scotty, when it was not my fault that he was missing dinner. Make Bill go get him, you know? But, even though I'd rather pluck a damn duck than go within a hundred yards of Scotty's friends again, I was bored, so I said yes and got my shoes on and left the house after she told me where to go.

My feet were blistering nicely when I got to the stupid dump. Scotty and the other kids were.. I don't know, playing baseball. They were, like, throwing the ball around and hitting it with that stick thing. The fat kid got pelted in the ankle with a ball when one kid threw it and that was sort of funny, but I was getting grumpy, so I yelled, "Scotty!" They all stopped whatever the heck they were doing and looked over at me, like I was desecrating their little 'sandlot' by standing on it while being a girl. Then, I yelled again, "Hello! Maria to Scotty!" He ran over and his friends were grouping in the center of the field thingy. "Yeah?" he asked when he reached me. "Aunt Sherry said it's time for supper." "Okay, just a second." He ran back to his friends and talked to them for a second and then walked back over to me.

We started walking back but my feet hurt really badly, so I took my shoes off and held them in my hand and started walking barefoot. "What are you doing?" "My feet hurt," I replied, simply. We started going again and we were silent for a while until I broke the ice. "Hey, sorry about your pants." He looked at me strangely and said, "Huh?" "You know, last Christmas? That candle? I sort of... set your pants on fire." "Ooooh, yeah! Uh, don't worry about it. They were kind of small, anyway." I felt a little better after that and we reached our destination quite soon.

At dinner I sat next to Bill and Scotty. Bill's a nerd. Oh, yeah, I already said that. Oh, well, he's still a nerd. He and Scotty were talking about science stuff for a while until everyone decided it was Question Maria to Death time.

"How's school going?"

"Okay."

"What grade are you in, now?"

"Going into eighth."

"How old are you now?"

"Nearly thirteen."

"Got a boyfriend yet?"

"Nope."

"Do you like science class?"

"It's cool."

"You like baseball?"

"No."

"How's your mom?"

"Same as your's." (I accidentally forgot that Bill's mom is dead... whoops!)

"How tall are you?"

"You mean how short am I?"

"Would you like to go shopping on Saturday?"

"Sure."

"Are you still bad at Math?"

"I've gotten worse."

And so on, and so forth, etc. It went on like that for quite a while. I finally excused myself after Aunt Sherry made some creepy comment about how much I'd grown. I rinsed my plate off and retreated to the basement.

So, here I am, writing to you. My life has never been this dull. I haven't even made anyone run away screaming and/or crying today. Hold on a sec, Aunt Sherry and Scotty are fighting upstairs.

Apparently, Aunt Sherry wants Scotty to take me somewhere tomorrow... he REALLY doesn't want to. Jeez, Scotty, make a girl feel wanted! He's really putting up a fight. He said, 'But Mom, the guys won't want a girl hanging around the sandlot!' Aunt Sherry replied, 'Well, tough cookies. If she doesn't go, you don't go!' Whew, go Aunt Sherry! 'Fine..' Way to stand your ground, Scotty. Seriously. Snort.

Wait... that means...

What the HELL is wrong with Aunt Sherry! She just knowingly (okay, not so knowingly) subjected me to torture! Nine adolescent males playing BASEBALL, of all things! Sherry, darling, YOU NEED HELP! I need help! In the form of a niiice warm cup of hot chocolate and a looong, dreamless night. Or whatever. Okay, so, I'm going to go get me some refreshments, then it's off to bed. Hopefully Aunt Sherry will come to her senses in the morning. Good night, diary!

* * *

A/N: Suuup, kids. This is the start of a Sandlot fic I started writing almost a year ago, when there were only one or two SL fics on the site. Found it in one of my folders when I was cleaning out my computer the other day, thought I might as well post it. It's a little choppy and Maria is obviously ahead of her time, in the sense of vocabulary and all that, but I mean, it adds a little touch. Yanno, it's like a modern take on her life in the '60s, I guess. Anyways... I have a lot more than this written, and I'll post more every few days if people like it enough. Reviewing is the key, people! sings You hold the key, you hold the key, to my little locked... folder of Sandlot ficcage! Hehehe. Umm yeah, so, if there's a decent response I'll post more soon. 'Kay? Good. I promise, it gets better as the story moves along! My first chapters always suck.  



	2. Chapter 2

Okay, so it's way early in the morning and Scotty the Ever-Caffeinated Fairy just pranced his way down here and told me it was _BREAKFAST_ time. That didn't please me. I kind of hope that that kick to the shoulder didn't hurt him too much. 'Cause, you know, it'd be revenge of the sweet kind if it did. _Wink, Wink_. 

Okay, so I'm going to roll out of bed and into the subzero temperatures and get ready.

P.S. It's _summer_, and I swear to God the thermometer near the furnace reads 48 degrees! I SWEAR!

* * *

Oatmeal sucks. Just so you know. Okay, anyway, after twenty horrendous minutes of trying to swallow that nasty concoction (only made better after I poured most of it down the drain when Scotty left to get his glove), we walked to the stupid sandlot thing. Scotty totally blamed me for him being late. Said something about Benny knocking on the door and waiting twenty minutes until he decided that he would just go ahead and meet the other guys while Scotty waited for little old me to put my hair up and tie my shoes and so on and so forth. I threw a pebble at the back of his head, but he didn't notice. Yeeah... says something about the number of times he must have taken a baseball to the head, you know? Anyways, half-way there, my feet were throbbing painfully and I let Scotty know it. So, because I'm pretty much the size of a four-year-old, he gave me a piggyback ride the rest of the way there and I held his filthy baseball glove. 

He put me down when we got there and dragged me over to introduce me to his lackeys... or whoever.

After we approached the bunch, he started pointing at kids and naming them as soon as we were close enough. "That's Hamilton Porter; we call him Ham, Michael 'Squints' Palledorous, Alan McClennan; we call him Yeah-Yeah, Timmy and Tommy Timmons, Kenny DeNunez, Bertram Grover Weeks, and Benny Rodriguez."

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to, like, shake their hands or something. I was still kind of disgusted by the fact that they all spit right after Scotty said their names. It was way gross and meant to impress or intimidate me. It really just grossed me out. But Benny was actually kind of cute, anyway. I nearly felt bad for making him wait all that time earlier... but not really.

I just kind of... looked at them, while they stood there, trying to look tough. Scotty hesitated a little before saying, "Uh, and guys, this is my cousin, Maria. She's staying with, uh, she's staying at my house for the summer." "Man, Smalls! You're gonna bag us down with a girl all summer!" the fat kid, who I now knew as Ham, whined. Grr. Stupid jerk. I'll bag you down. With a kick to the family jewels, buddy! Poor Scotty, though. "No, no, uh, no. She's not gonna come here every day. She doesn't even like baseball." No, but I do like watching kids named Benny Rodriguez _play_ baseball. "Typical girl." Timmy commented. "Typical girl." Tommy repeated. Scotty leaned a little closer to the guys, and murmured, "My mom made me bring her." They all gave him sympathetic looks like they really felt his pain and then proceeded to glare at me like it was my fault. I must have looked highly offended, because Benny stepped towards me a little and said, "Ignore them. Just sit over there while we play." He pointed to this spot off to the side; their little.. digout? Is that what it's called? I don't know. But it was basically a patch of dirt, some pieces of wood, and dead twigs. I felt less than accommodated.

So, the boys all congregated and started talking baseball. But, um, I was SO not going to sit in a pile of dirt while they played a game of glorified stickball, so I walked in the opposite direction, which was AWAY from the sandlot altogether. When I looked back, they were still huddled in a group. Um, okay, way to watch out for your cousin, Scotty.

Okay, so after I deserted, I walked around the town for a little bit. It wasn't SO bad, I guess. Kind of lame, though. I didn't even feel nervous about walking around alone. It was one of those quaint little dream towns where no one ever really gets kidnapped or anything bad like that.

I looked around in some drugstores for a while and got cranky because I'd left my purse in the frozen tundra at Aunt Sherry's house. The clock in the drug store said that it was 1:32 in the afternoon. I sighed and figured that I should go back to the sandlot and tell Scotty I was just going to go back to the house and read or something, which I wouldn't really do. I probably would have just hid in a closet so as to avoid Aunt Sherry, who is very energetic, or bothered Bill until he kicked me out of the house and forced me to hitch a ride home.

When I'd just reached the sandlot, I stepped through the opening in the fence and saw a bunch of kids in baseball uniforms on their bikes, talking to Scotty and his friends. And by the looks of it, they weren't chatting about the nice weather. I kept walking towards Scotty and when I was closer I could hear them more clearly. Ham was trading lame insults with the 'enemy', who happened to be reasonably cute. Even though his ears were kind of big, but, whatever.

Alright, so, anyway, I got close enough to nudge Scotty and whisper, "Who're they?" He glanced over at me and whispered back, "The Tigers." Ohh, gee thanks for the detailed explanation. Like I couldn't get that from the embroidered 'TIGERS' on the front of their uniforms. Really.

When I stopped ogling, I paid attention to what they were saying.

"When was the last time it didn't take you all day to run the bases?" "When was the last time you didn't wear your momma's underwear?" "Shut up, PORKer!" Oh, man. That was kind of funny.

Eventually, they just got down to challenging eachother to a game of baseball at the other kid's field. Oo. Intrigue. Seriously.

When the sandlot kids were done glaring after the Tigers, Scotty turned on me and started whining. "Where were you? I looked over there and you were gone!" Wow. Did you ever think of, like, looking for me? Calling my name? Smoke signalling me? Nah, didn't think so. "I left." Stupid cousins get stupid answers. He then went on about how his mom had told him he was responsible for me and he couldn't lose track of me (way to go in that department, by the way, Scotty!), and keep me out of trouble. I was about to kick him repeatedly in the ankle when Benny, from half-way across the sandlot, yelled, "Hey, Smalls! You gonna play or you gonna babysit?" .. Okay, that was a little offensive, but at least Scotty's off my back.

I thought about wandering around again, but my feet were hurting, so I ducked into the boys' wooden... digout thinger and sat down. Here we are. You're all caught up.

Wow, Benny runs fast. Tommy runs funny. Kenny can pitch the ball really.. hard or fast or something. Bertram is weird. Squints is annoying. Almost as annoying as Tommy, who I seriously would kill if I were Timmy. Yeah-Yeah.. he's just odd. Ham is, well, okay. I'm just going to say it. Ham is fat and I don't like him.

Ugh. WILL THIS TORTURE NEVER END! Tommy mis-aimed the ball or whatever and it came flying in and hit me! That little..

"Tommy, you spastic little monkey!" Wow, he looks scared. At least I made the other guys laugh at him instead of me, now.

Hold on a sec...

Sorry, had to take the ball over to Benny. His fingers touched mine when he took the ball from me! And then he locked eyes with me, took hold of my wrists and pulled me to him and we kissed passionately as the other boys wept at the beauty of it all.

Only not. That didn't happen. But our fingers did touch!

Okay, I'm going to see if I can manage to take a nap sitting up _without_ being hit by stray balls.

* * *

A/N: Ehh, sorry it's drastically short. But I mean, these journals are supposed to only cover one day each, so yeah. I'll probably skip days between this journal and the next, so the story can make a little more progress. But here's the obligatory filler chapter before the story really gets moving. Yaay! Review, please! 


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